1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical computers and data processing systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for consolidating television rating systems.
2. The Prior State of the Art
There are dozens of rating systems designed to give information about the content of a particular video segment such as a movie or television program.
Originally, rating systems were applied to movies only, and not television programs. The United States motion picture industry currently uses the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating system. The MPAA rating system includes ratings that are essentially age-based and are familiar to individuals who view American-made movies. The MPAA ratings include the following:
Recently, television programs have incorporated rating systems as well. In 1997, the United States television industry began to use a voluntary television rating system (hereinafter xe2x80x9cthe U.S. TV rating systemxe2x80x9d) designed to help parents determine the appropriateness of a television program for their children. This U.S. TV rating system includes a dimension that is essentially age-based, and a dimension that is essentially content-based. The age-based dimension of the ratings is listed first in each rating and includes the following:
In addition to the above age-based dimension, the U.S. TV rating system also has a content-based dimension. For example, the program having the age-based dimension TV-Y7 may also include Fantasy Violence (FV) so that the rating is TV-Y7-FV. Programs having age-based dimension TV-PG, TV-14 or TV-MA may include content-based dimensions such as violence (V), sexual situations (S), language (L), and/or dialogue (D). Programs having age-based dimensions TV-Y and TV-G do not have content-based dimensions. For example, a rating of TV-PG-V indicates that the age-based rating is xe2x80x9cTV-PGxe2x80x9d and that there is some violence in the program.
Since the U.S. TV rating system is voluntary, television networks are free to pick and choose which aspects of the U.S. TV rating system to adopt, or whether to ignore the U.S. TV rating system altogether by adopting their own rating system, or by not having a rating system. Some networks may, for example, choose to adopt the age-based dimension of the U.S. TV rating system, but not the content-based dimension. Even those networks that adopt both the age-based and content-based dimensions may choose to represent ratings in different ways. For example, one television network might choose to represent a TV-14 program that has violence and sexual content as xe2x80x9cTV-14; V, Sxe2x80x9d while another represents it as xe2x80x9cTV-14, V, Sxe2x80x9d. Note the comma xe2x80x9c,xe2x80x9d instead of the semicolon xe2x80x9c;xe2x80x9d. While this difference may seem trivial, a comma xe2x80x9c,xe2x80x9d character and a semicolon xe2x80x9c;xe2x80x9d character are quite different when computer-represented in binary so that a computer that recognizes the xe2x80x9cTV-14; V, Sxe2x80x9d rating may not necessarily recognize the xe2x80x9cTV-14, V, Sxe2x80x9d rating.
Television rating systems may also differ geographically. For example, Australia Seand Canada each have different television rating systems than the U.S. TV rating system. Furthermore, new rating systems may be promulgated and old rating systems may become obsolete.
Many people find it difficult to understand or remember what ratings mean even within a common rating system. This difficulty frustrates the television rating system""s purpose of conveying information about the television program. For example, a parent may not be properly informed of the appropriateness of a television program for a child if the parent does not understand the rating displayed in the corner of the television screen. The confusion associated with ratings is further compounded when multiple television rating systems are utilized in television programs.
Furthermore, a parent may have a limits provider associated with a television. This limits provider typically blocks programs of certain ratings as designated by a parent. If television programs of a variety of different rating systems are available at the television, the number of possible ratings may be so great that a parent may not know to block all ratings that the parent would like to block. This may result in the viewing of television programs that the parent deems inappropriate.
In light of this confusion, what is desired is a system and method for clearly representing ratings associated with multiple rating systems in a user-friendly, consolidated manner.
A system and method are described in the context of a multimedia system that has access to multimedia programs such as television programs and/or Web pages. These multimedia programs may include a wide variety of rating systems such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating system, the U.S television rating system. and other rating systems. Each of these rating systems often includes a number of ratings. For example, the MPAA rating system includes the following well-known ratings: G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17.
Each of the ratings in each of the rating systems is stored in an organized fashion within a data structure. This data structure is stored in memory accessible by the multimedia system. Once a multimedia program is identified, the rating associated with the multimedia program is also identified. For example, an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) may identify a television program with an associated rating field. The multimedia system would identify the rating within the data structure, and perform a function based on this rating. For example, the multimedia system might provide more information regarding the rating to the user, or perhaps block the program from being viewed.
Since there are numerous rating systems employed throughout the world, a user could get confused about the meaning of a particular rating based on the limited information immediately available to the user. The system and method of the present invention allow for more detailed information regarding each rating of each rating system to be stored locally for immediate access should the user need such information. Furthermore, the system and method allows for computer assisted functions such as program blocking to be available for all ratings. Therefore, the present invention provides a more flexible system and method for computer recognizing multiple rating systems.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other objects and features of the present invention will becoine more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.